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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

ACCLAIMED South African, DJ Tira, has hinted at retirement from the music industry saying his safety comes first after he was hit with a bottle during a performance. 

Videos on social media show DJ Tira being hit with a bottle when he was on the decks during a performance at the University of Venda over the weekend. 

Tira sustained a deep cut just below his left eye.

Posting on his Instagram fan page, DJ Tira said maybe the attack showed that it was time to retire.

“This morning at University of Venda, I was hit with a bottle. A sign for early retirement maybe… my safety comes first,” said DJ Tira.

In a follow up interview with Chronicle Showbiz, DJ Tira (who turns 43 tomorrow), said the incident got him thinking of retiring. 

“It got me thinking that what do I do really with the remainder of my life? No one likes to be treated as such. But it’s not like I’m really going to do it now, but it crossed my mind,” said the DJ from his Durban base.

Makoya Bearings, as DJ Tira is also known, is a family man with a wife Gugu and the couple has two sons – Junior and Chase and a daughter Gigi.

He said the main reason he contemplated retiring was the thought of his family suffering after his death. 

“I thought of the people who depend on me you know. If they have to lose you they will suffer when you’re gone. That makes you quite cautious, but it’s fine I’m slowly moving away from it and getting back to my life,” said DJ Tira. 

Some of the comments on his Instagram post suggested that DJ Tira should black list venues where he encounters violence. 

In that vein, DJ Tira said, he was not returning to the University of Venda anytime soon. 

“This is a place that I’m not going to be going to. From now on I’ll select the bookings and places that I’ll play at,” he said. 

DJ Tira, who is a permanent feature on the Zimbabwean entertainment scene each year, said he was now preparing for the release of his album and his annual birthday tour that both start today. 

In May, DJ Tira led fans through a two-hour musical journey that spans more than 15 years during a show at Cosmopolitan Night Club in Bulawayo.